Why I think Dating Apps in Ghana all seem to be Sex Trading Centres

Everyone who knows me well can attest to the fact that I am an advocate of “the online world”. I believe most things that are done offline can equally be done online, and achieve greater results.

However, just like the offline world, a lot of fraud and deception exist in the online world too. One of these and the most annoying for me personally is all these dating apps which turn out to be just avenues for a commercial sex worker to ply his or her trade.

A few months back, I spoke about some of the best dating Apps in Ghana. Before that period, I intentionally installed a few of the so called “dating apps” to ascertain how they work and to be sure if they fulfilled their real purpose. Sadly, they did not.

At that point, the sharp contrast between what dating in the offline world and dating in the online world meant was clearer to me. It appears as if when you talk about “dating” online, it simply meant getting a partner for the night; this is true for both male and females.

I’m inquisitive, very inquisitive, even sometimes when I know I shouldn’t be.

The Dating App TECHxperience

Last two weeks, I installed two of these dating apps with the intention of finding out whether there are any real people searching for “dates”. I registered the first account with the name “Yaw Mfidie”, using my real picture and date of birth. My intention was to get a female partner to date in 96 hours. I was attracted to some of these “sweet profiles” and I mostly began the conversations.

For a few of them, the conversation lasted more than 5 messages before I was hit with the usual: “Let’s chat on Whatsapp for a good time, GHS XX for short time, GHS XX for a long time. No sleep overs. Call 02ZZZZZZZZZ”. All the messages were not structured in the exact same way, but they were all alike. I, however, met one lady who was interested in learning the English language, out of about 18 ladies I had a chat with.

Dating apps in Ghana are not focused on love. It seems to be a sex market.

I thought to myself: “Maybe the guys on here are searching for a real dating opportunity and these ladies are not helping”.

I decided to create a new account with a different identity. This time, I created “Yaa Mfidie” with beautiful lady stock photo from Pixabay. I filled in all the necessary details and waited for someone to contact me. I was surprised when guys were sending messages like:

Hello Pretty, can I have a taste of your sweet things?

How much for one night?

Call me on 02ZZZZZZZZZ, I have a big —- to satisfy your needs

And the likes of messages, suggesting that these guys only wanted sex too.

For the few who asked whether I was dating, I replied with “No”, then they jumped on the bandwagon to suggest we just had sex. Seriously, is this dating?

Well, Well.

I know chatting with over 40 different people, both male and female can not be a concrete evidence of what happens in these dating apps, but I think I have had enough. From where I stand right now, there is really no proper “dating” going on in these online dating apps. If you know of any that works here in Ghana, just tell me.

And oh, those fraudsters on the app using pictures of people who look like Selena Gomez yet bear the names of traditional Ghanaians, what are they thinking?

Shepherd is a technology wonk and blogger who conveys apropos stories for the everyday person. Apart from being keen on Online Behaviours, he is also an educator, Website Developer, SEO Expert and Social Media Consultant. He is currently an EIT at MEST Africa. Drop a line at [email protected]